1887-1972 He was honoured with the State award of Padma Bhushan in 1955. He was one of the most famous pupils of Abanindranath Tagore, whose contribution to the emergence of modern art in India remains unquestionable. Born on April 11, 1887 into a moderately prosperous family of land-owners in a village Beliatore in the Bankura district, West Bengal. His new style was a reaction against the Bengal School and Western tradition. His underlying quest was threefold: to capture the essence of simplicity embodied in the life of the folk people; to make art accessible to a wider section of people; and to give Indian art its own identity.
Jamini Roy's paintings were put on exhibition for the first time in the British India Street of Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1938. During the 1940s, his popularity touched new highs, with the Bengali middle class and the European community becoming his main clientele. In 1946, his work was exhibited in London and in 1953, in the New York City. He spent most of his life living and working in Calcutta.
Initially he experimented with Kalighat paintings but found that it has ceased to be strictly a "patua" and went to learn from village patuas. Consequently his techniques as well as subject matter were influenced by traditional art of Bengal. He preferred himself to be called a patua. Jamini Roy died in 1972.
He was survived by four sons and a daughter. Currently his successors (daughters-in-law and grand children and their children) stay at the home he had built in Ballygunge Place, Kolkata. His works can be found in various galleries across the globe as well as in his home. It is evident that his followers and successors copied many of his works with a minor variations intentional or unintentional. So, the basic problem lies with the identification of the originality of his works. |
